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Q&A With Stuart Damon

By  Posted: May 3, 2005

Soap Opera Weekly: We're starting to see shades of Alan's darker colors again. Was it a pleasant surprise when you started seeing that in the scripts?

Stuart Damon: I cannot tell you how thrilled I was to start seeing this stuff again and the great thing about it is that it's part of the history of the character. He's capable of going in either direction in terms of being good or being bad.

Weekly: The scenes with Maurice [Benard] when Alan went to tell off Sonny [after AJ's 'death'], did you enjoy those?

Damon: First of all, I love working with him. He's a great professional, and I love the fact that even though they're so totally different kind of characters, neither of them gives any quarter. Alan's not afraid of him at all. He doesn't have that kind of power over Alan but that's a good thing because it makes for good drama.

Weekly: You probably have a lot of fans out there who don't know about things like Alan dropping a house on Rick and Monica.

Damon: Those were the days when I was the Road Runner. I'd shoot myself in the foot. That was a blast for me but I am so thrilled to be doing this. I've never been bored at the show but this is something I didn't know whether I'd have a chance to do again.

Weekly: What about being relegated to the nurses' station?

Damon: I pretty much have been relegated to the Quartermaine living room or the nurses' station but this is a whole different ball game. This is a side of Alan that's very real and it's very dangerous. You don't want to turn your back on this guy when you put him in a corner.

Damon: Right. Except this time it's alcohol and not drugs. But who knows where it's going to go? That puts him in some kind of insane place because he hasn't had anything like that in such a long time. It's really playing tricks with his mind.

Weekly: Do you find that you have to do anything different to prepare for these darker turns?

Damon: No, it has just sat there in the background and it's something that pretty well comes naturally.

Weekly: It seems like they're trying to make some effort to bring the Quartermaines back a bit to the front.

Damonj: Well, I think that's always been an extremely valuable family. I mean how could you not be valuable, when you're as rich and dysfunctional as we are? It makes you interesting. It's a good thing that they're doing that.

Weekly: What was your reaction when you heard that AJ was returning?

Damon: Well, I found out that he was coming back and I was thrilled because Billy [Warlock, AJ] and John Ingle (ex-Edward; Mickey, DAYS) [were] my two best friends on the show. We're old friends and we always hung out together, the three of us. I think it's great. And it's because of that, you know, that I got this storyline. This is good.

Weekly: In all of Alan's craziness, is there anything that he hasn't done that you'd like to see him do?

Damon: No. He's had wonderful love affairs and he's had just straight affairs and he's been really good and really kind, stood up for his children when nobody else did. I think that's why this is so hard on him.

Weekly: There's so much history in that family to play. Good writers know how to take advantage of what's there.

Damon: When the opportunity arises, as it has now, they've taken full advantage of it, which is very fine.